What is Anthropology? Why should you study it? What will you learn? And what can you do with it? What Anthropologists Do answers all these questions. And more.

Anthropology is an astonishingly diverse and engaged subject that seeks to understand human social behaviour. What Anthropologists Do presents a lively introduction to the ways in which anthropology's unique research methods and cutting-edge thinking contribute to a very wide range of fields: environmental issues, aid and development, advocacy, human rights, social policy, the creative arts, museums, health, education, crime, communications technology, design, marketing, and business. In short, a training in Anthropology provides highly transferable skills of investigation and analysis.

The book will be ideal for any readers who want to know what Anthropology is all about and especially for students coming to the study of Anthropology for the first time.

About the author

Veronica Strang is Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Auckland. An environmental anthropologist, she has written extensively on water, land and resource issues in Australia and the UK, and is the author of Uncommon Ground: cultural landscapes and environmental values (Berg 1997), and The Meaning of Water (Berg 2004).

Contents

Glossary

Introduction

What do anthropologists do?
Employing Anthropology
Conducting Research

Chapter 1. Anthropology and Advocacy

Balancing Acts
Facilitating Cross-cultural Communication
Defending Livelihoods and Knowledge
Human Rights
Land Rights
Participatory Action

Chapter 2. Anthropology and Aid

Crossing Boundaries
Aid and Ambiguity
NGO-graphy
Assisting Aid
Dealing with Displacement
Understanding Race and Racism

Chapter 3. Anthropology and Development

Critiquing Development
In Development
Connecting Multiple Realities
Conserving Cultural Diversity
Globalization

Chapter 4. Anthropology and the Environment

'Environmental' Problems
Indigenous Knowledges
Political Ecology
Unpacking Garbage
Human-Animal Relations
Anthropology and Environmentalism

Chapter 5. Anthropology and Governance

The Big Picture
The Not So Big Picture
Home Work
Prescription and Persuasion
Education

Chapter 6. Anthropology, Business and Industry

Money Matters
Anthropologists in Business
Multinational and Multicultural Communication
Anthropology and Communications Media
Marketing Anthropology
Designing Anthropology

Chapter 7. Anthropology and Health

Health in a Cultural Context
From The Cradle to The Grave
Food and Lifestyle
Understanding Disease
Drug Cultures and Crime
Managing Health

Chapter 8. Anthropology, Art and Identity

Defining Identity
Gender and Sexuality
Race, Nationalism and Social Movements
Representing Identity
Art and Performance
Museums and Cultural Heritage
Film and Photography

Conclusion

Applying Anthropology
Interdisciplinary Anthropology
Transferring Anthropology
What Kind of People Become Anthropologists?

Appendix 1. Studying Anthropology

Appendix 2. Further Reading

Appendix 3. Other resources

Anthropology Associations and Networks
Anthropology Journals
Virtual Libraries in Anthropology

Bibliography
Acknowledgements